WASHINGTON - A CIA probe into ex-chief David Petraeus may offer “lessons,” a spokesman said, as a report suggested the women in the scandal tried to profit from the relationship.
The investigation by CIA Inspector General David Buckley will be an in-house inquiry, agency spokesman Preston Golson told reporters.
“If there are lessons to be learned from this case, we’ll use them to improve,” he said. “But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. An investigation is exploratory and doesn’t presuppose any particular outcome.”
A key focus on the inquiry will be whether Petraeus misused his position - and the security details, private jets and special accommodations that came with it - to facilitate his extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, a person familiar with the investigation told The New York Times. Meanwhile, a New York businessman says Florida socialite Jill Kelley asked him for an $80 million commission if she used her influence to win a South Korean business contract, according to CNN.
Kelley, who triggered an FBI investigation that led to the resignation of Petraeus, claimed she was a high-level representative of the South Korean government, says the businessman, Adam Victor.
In reality, according to the South Korean Foreign Ministry, Kelley holds a simple honorary title - “special consul” - which boasts no official responsibilities.
With the prospect of a commission on a $4billion deal to provide natural gas, Kelley “tried to sell herself as something she was not,” Victor, president of TransGas Development Systems, told CNN. “I told her she was crazy.” It’s not the only time Kelley has claimed to have privileges because of a special diplomatic status, the network said. On Sunday, she called 911 complaining that a man she didn’t know was on her property, describing herself as an “honorary consul general” with “inviolability.”
A spokesman for Kelley did not return CNN’s phone calls seeking comment. Although there have been no allegations of wrongdoing, it’s among the latest twists in a story with possibly troubling ramifications on several levels, including, potentially, national security.
Kelley came under public scrutiny after Petraeus quit last week, admitting his extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Anonymous e-mails sent to Kelley prompted her to alert the FBI, which eventually uncovered the affair.
Kelley has close ties to several high-ranking military figures, including Petraeus and Gen. John Allen, commander of US forces in Afghanistan.
Living not far from MacDill, home of the US Central Command, or Centcom, Kelley and her husband, Scott, a doctor, hosted parties attended by high-ranking military officials. She even took part in a Special Operations Command-sponsored parachute dive, the Army said.
An $80 million commission would have been helpful to the Kelleys, the network said. She and her husband have struggled with financial troubles, according to public records. Their Tampa-area home, which was purchased in 2004 for $1.5 million, has been the subject of foreclosure proceedings since April 2010. Records show a total of 11 lawsuits involving the Kelleys, the report said.
Kelley is well-connected to the local military culture. In October 2010, she took part in a parachute skydive organised by the US Special Operations Command. The jump was part of a program that “reached out” to members of Tampa’s civilian community and the media, a command spokesman said. Hosting foreign guests was not unusual for the Kelleys, a high-ranking former Centcom military officer said.
In a May 14 e-mail obtained by CNN, Kelley invited Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn to join her at her home for dinner with “a group of VIP’s visiting from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Napal, here by the authority of the State Department.”
Many guests at Kelley’s parties were foreign liaison officers attached to the so-called Coalition Village at MacDill’s sprawling compound, the source told CNN. Most of those foreign liaisons were not cleared for sensitive classified access to military documents, it said.